Going for the green

This month we've read about how Germany once again reached a notable renewable energy milestone. It was reported that its renewable energy generation surged to a record portion — nearly 75 percent — of the country's overall electricity demand for part of the day. Photovoltaic cells and wind turbines provided the biggest boost. This surfeit of electric power caused electricity prices to plummet for much of the afternoon, according to a report in Renewables International.

On a different day, June 6, it was reported that for an hour solar power provided half the country's electric power. Moreover, the Bloomberg news service reported that in the first quarter of 2014, renewable energy met 27 percent of the countries' electricity demand, which is up from 6 percent in 2000 and 20.5 percent in 2011. That's compared to about 13 percent of the U.S. total. Germany made a conscious effort to increase its renewables, which was not without some controversy in the country, and yet they made inroads.

Renewable energy is not yet the panacea. There are still fluctuations in renewable power but improvements in batteries and solar panels are among the technologies starting to meet this challenge. While scaling back in recent months on some of its surcharges meant to boost Germany renewables, the country remains on course to reach 50 percent of its annual electric generated by renewables by 2050.

This, we might add, is more than just about producing green energy and reducing carbon emissions. Reports from several European news services indicate that the renewable energy sector provided in excess of 300,000 German jobs at good wages, something our country sorely needs.

Yet in this country there is an effort meant to damage the roof-top solar energy industry, which is still trying to get a solid footing. Proposals to tax the financing of home solar panels are creeping up in legislation around the country, and there's the Obama Administration proposal to get rid of the 30-percent tax credit. Both could do much damage.

We'd like to see the country do more to encourage renewable energy. Again this is not just to see an increase in green energy but to assist in the creation of new industry that would employ people and create good jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that jobs in the renewable energy field include technical engineers, software engineers, and the like, all of which will provide good wages (greater than $60,000 a year). Even the electrical and engineering technicians can expect to make at least $50,000 a year. That pays a lot better than Walmart.

This country has to invest in its infrastructure. In addition to improving our roads and bridges and yes our renewable energy sector, it also invests in our people. Creating good-paying jobs in clean energy does a lot to reduce greenhouse gases and create good jobs, which provide stability to our family structure. While money does not necessarily make for good families, we know that the lack of it can be a major destabilizing force.